WOW, oh wow...

So I heard from Tyler at Artfest that someone put my pin on the front of their journal. I happened across it just now, and I'm sitting here thinking, "wow... oh wow... someone liked my little trade enough to put it the very front of their AMAZING journal... wow... oh wow...oh wow..."

I'm thrilled and flabbergasted all at the same time. What an honor! Thank you, Janne!

Link to Janne's post: http://www.spindelmaker.com/my-artfest-journal/comment-page-1/#comment-1201

Artfest 2010 Continued

Time to write a little about the journey and fabulousness that is Artfest.

WEDNESDAY:
I arrived in Seattle to meet up with my sweetest friend and Artfest roomie Lea. (Thanks for the Lea Delivery Service, Dave!)

We drove into Seattle and took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. I'm sorry to report that I didn't even get out of the car to take in the view. I get motion sick fairly easily, so that's just probably best.

We then took the lovely little drive to Port Townsend and then to Fort Warden. Fort Warden is a collection of buildings - dorms, officers housing, a castle looking building, and a commons building that houses the cafeteria.

We found the registration area (thanks to Lea who had been there before - I would have been so clueless without her!) and got checked in. We got our keys and headed over to the officers house 6E. We met our AWESOME roomies who started to arrive too. Saving more info about them for an upcoming post.One of the fun parts about Artfest is just finding a table in the Commons and chatting with the other people there. There was always someone new to meet and make trades with...OH, and my trades were a hit which made it even more fun! Here's a photo of the eating area - well, half of it anyway.

THURSDAY:

I showed photos of my Prayer Flags class with Karen Michel in yesterday's blog post.

In the Prayer Flags class, we painted as much of the background as we wanted white, then we painted a second layer of colored paint over that. Then we glued down imagery to express our intentions through the flags. The idea behind the flags is that your prayers/wishes/intentions are carried off into the wind as the flags fray. I had been thinking about my art and Artfest a lot, so I tried to find words to express my intentions for my time at Artfest. My flags say: Take Risks, Create, Let (Happy) Accidents Happen, Be Inspired-Inspire Others, and Seek Adventure. I pretty much got three of the five done.

Karen is such a genuine and kind person. She took time to chat with each of us and give constructive feedback about our work which I really appreciated. For some reason I thought Karen was going to be intimidating, but she was the exact opposite of that.

For Thursday evening, I don't have too much to report... Lea and I crashed at 8:30 PM! I guess our roomies thought we were out partying all night long. They left us a sweet little beer offering outside our door. (I miss you Michelle, Lori, Lisa, and Kari!)

FRIDAY:

On Friday I had Michelle Allen's "Getcha Paint On" class. We used black caulking to draw outlines, smooshed it in a bit (yes, that's the technical term) for texture, carved a stamp while the caulk was drying (my first stamp!), and then painted and assembled. I could go on and on about how awesome Michelle Allen is. I almost wasn't in her class - I made a switch after registration - and boy was I glad that I did switch! Michelle is SOOOOO talented... her work is whimsical yet complicated, colorful and fascinating.

This is my "finished" piece. I say "finished" because I'm pretty sure I'm going to change the eyes on my bug and restamp in white over the blue. We'll see what happens when I get home.The FABULOUS Michelle Allen wielding power tools.

Even more coming soon.... exhaustion from a full work day is setting in!

ARTFEST YAY!

My 6E sisters - Lea, Lisa, Lori, Michelle, and Kari (artist info in an upcoming blog post)
Lea getting breakfast to start the first day off right.Prayer Flags class with Karen Michel (AMAZING teacher - more on her soon too!). My prayer flags class buddy Sherena... the queen of all things glitter...and now of all things paper too!

Karen Michel's prayer flags out on the balcony.

My flags out on the balcony.And that's just some of day ONE! Commentary and more photos coming soon...

Simply amazing.

Inspiring. Exciting. Thought provoking. Occasionally overwhelming. Possibly life changing.

Artfest was an experience that I will never forget. I have so much to share about my time there... my housemates (sisters!), the other inspiring people, my classes, the ups, the downs (a few, but what's the sweet without a little sour?), the scenery, the amazing Teesha and Tracy Moore, the whole thing.

Right now I'm going to just think about it all and post more soon. I'm thoroughly inspired, but exhausted. Photos and tons to share... stay tuned!

And they're done!

YAY! My hubby helped me package them up last night. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get all this Artfest stuff plus clothes for an extra work week afterwards into manageable luggage.

Artfest, Here I Come!

Well, no one said they thought the pins were horrid, so.... I made a bunch more over the weekend. They're taking over!

I made a card to pin them onto with my contact info on the back. Then they go into clear bags.And here are my other trades - the map envelopes with ephemera and some of my artwork printed on 4X6 cards.Looks like I'll make it in just under the wire... I leave for Artfest on Wednesday morning! YAAAAAY!

HONEST Opinions Needed

So last night I was working on my Artfest trades, and these happened. They're about 2.5 inches, and they are intended to be pins when I'm done with them.

SO, I need your help. I can't see my own work very objectively, and I need to know how to improve these, or if they're ok as they are... or.... I don't know.

Your HONEST opinion needed please. I can take it. :)

Holy Book Sale, Batman!

Went to the AAUW book sale last night and picked up "just a few" books for next to nothing. :)

Rain + Flowers

I forced myself to set down the art journal to make my last nature journal pages. Here's one of the two I had left to do. Just one more to go!

More Marbles

Lost My Marbles

Another journal work in progress. This time I remembered to take the before photo!
Blurry photo of naked model+ scrapbooking paper and stamped paper

+ inkjet printed and hand colored letters + white paint penNot really done with the page, but it's coming along...

Because...

...everyone needs to spend their Friday night making 50+ map envelopes. NEEDS to. Seriously.

Ironic

Ironic... that I was doing this journaling page about getting things done while not getting done the other art (for nature journal art swap) that I need to do. I go where my muse leads me... or some other mumbo-jumbo justification like that. REALLY, I'm going to work on completing my nature journal pages next. REALLY.

Watered down Golden Cobalt Blue + SharpieAcrylic paint (Americana Buttermilk craft paint, Liquitex Brilliant Orange, and some cheapie brand of Cadmium Red Medium Hue)White paint pen of the Elmer's variety, I believe.And the two-page spread - mostly done. I'm sure I'll be back here adding images or other flotsam/doodles at some point.

Fallen Off

Stage 1 (Forgot to take a photo of the original pages again - I get too excited to get started!) Gesso + thinned down Golden Cobalt Teal acrylic
Stage 2
Vintage map + white paint pen

Stage 3

Black Sharpie + white paint marker + scrapbooking paper + date stamp + DYMO label

Journaling Continued

All I can think about lately is journaling and reorganizing my art spaces. I was out of town for work for a week, and I think that no art for a week has gone to my brain.

Before I left for the work trip, I continued my journaling. I'm pleased with where it's going, but I'm working on another set of pages at the moment. I can see that I'll probably go back and forth between pages as the ideas and images crop up.

I have some other swap obligations to finish up, but my mind just isn't there right now. Need to put some energy towards that and my Artfest trades ASAP.

P.S. Does anyone know of a marker that writes easily on water soluble oil crayon? I guess I need to try some paint type markers? The Sharpies worked fine on some parts (on the atlas page part in the top right) and not well at all on others.